Colo-rful

There’s innocence and intrigue in traditional burlesque that just can’t be found at, say, Shotgun Willie’s, or at the far spectrum of cable TV channels, where 60 minutes of footage will cost you beaucoup bucks — and probably nix any chance at a second date

So you wander down the mountain as the minutes go by. The trees are bigger here. The smell of the pine is overwhelming, like being in a frigid sanitized bathroom. A squirrel has a scary tantrum when you reach into a tree to shake the snow off a contender for being the perfect tree.

Long days mired in mechanical challenges, triple-digit temperatures and lines snaking the length of the truck are the norm in the region’s booming food truck scene. With all those bumps along the way — and make no mistake, every food truck driver is almost as much a mechanic as they are a chef — it could be easy to lose sight of the best part, which at Mile High Cajun is seeing a few hundred happy customers walk away with a bellyful of po’ boys, grits and jambalaya

But rye deserves better. With it’s floral notes, spicy first pass across the palette and perfumed aroma, rye’s complexities mean it’s never dull.

In a whiskey scene increasingly populated with dorm-room dreck filled with cinnamon or honey or apples, rye stands out as a truly different sort of whiskey. That built-in complexity has rye not only gaining in popularity among cocktail aficionados, but among distillers who realize that those layers of flavor offer them a chance to get a little weird.

The sad truth is, despite all of its documented wonders, alcohol just isn’t that good for you. And beyond the potential damage it can do to your liver, it also comes packed with plenty of carbohydrates, sugars and calories — three serious no-nos for anyone rocking a dutiful diet regimen.

If you want to wow the guests with your Colorado-made booze choices, you probably need to snag something harder than beer. And no better way to do that than to mix some of the Mile High State’s best spirits with some well-known holiday classics.